School Discipline Consensus Report

The School Discipline Consensus Report presents a comprehensive set of consensus-based and field-driven recommendations to improve conditions for learning for all students and educators, better support students with behavioral needs, improve police-schools partnerships, and keep students out of the juvenile justice system for minor offenses. More than 100 advisors representing policymakers, school administrators, teachers, behavioral health professionals, police, court leaders, probation officials, juvenile correctional leaders, parents, and youth from across the country helped develop more than two dozen policies and 60 recommendations to keep more students in productive classrooms and out of court rooms. An additional 600 individuals from various disciplines and perspectives shared examples of promising practices that are also presented in the report. The School Discipline Consensus Report draws on real-world strategies and research to promote truly multidisciplinary approaches to reducing the millions of youth suspended, expelled, and arrested each year while creating safe and supportive schools for all educators and students.

Media Coverage

By helping principals and teachers address the underlying causes of misconduct—and giving them options other than suspension and expulsion—forward-thinking school districts across the nation are demonstrating how positive discipline can improve educational outcomes.

The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice released a report this month that argued that schools should replace the out-of-school suspension model with a model that focuses on looking for problematic behaviors and acting to keep students in the classroom, focusing primarily on addressing the underlying issues that cause bad behavior in students rather than punishing the behavior itself.

A study released June 4 by the Council of State Governments Justice Center reported that the number of students breaking rules declined dramatically in schools that focused on preventative measures like ensuring a positive and inviting learning environment.

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